A Dragon and His NotViking
by Illisandria Carthain
Summary: I am the one they call Toothless, the last of the Shadows of Jörmungadr. This is the story of me and my Not-Viking.\ To be deleted when the rewrite is posted, just a heads-up.
1. Chapter 1

This is a story my Clutch-mother told me and my Clutch-brothers and Clutch-sisters when we were hatchlings.

* * *

The Universe was and the Universe was big and empty. The Universe decided that it was tired of being empty and gave form to a large Egg. That Egg quivered and quaked and cracked open. The shards of the shell became stars and the milky egg-fluid became planets of all shapes and sizes.

From this Egg came Jörmungadr, the World Serpent. He looked around at what had filled the Universe and felt happiness and pride. He was so proud of what He had inadvertently done that He encircled one small blue planet the color of His underbelly that rotated around a small yellow star that shimmered yellow like His eyes and claimed it as His chosen planet, the one that would bear his creations.

Jörmungadr breathed out a mist and from this mist came the first of the Draconis: the Guards. They were a Clutch-mother and Clutch-father the color of midnight with eyes the color of the grass. They were large, at least one Ridge-span across with a wingspan of one Ridge-span as well. Their tail had two fins that allowed them to clutch at the air and ride eddies. They had retractable teeth used for catching fish to eat and carrying their Clutch. The fire they breathed was like plasma, a concentrated burst of noble gas ignited by a single spark from the back of their throats.

Jörmungadr spoke to them, _You are called Luz and Oscurito, light and darkness. Use your gifts to protect what is to come. Go forth and prosper._ Then He breathed out the mist again and this time the Scouts came forth.

They were small, one tenth Ridge-span with wings even smaller. They were brightly colored and had sharp teeth filled with powerful venom and they spit fire that was an ignited gas.

Jörmungadr rumbled, _You are to go forth and find food for what is to come. Do not use your gifts to harm other Draconis, only use it in self-defense. Your names are Gift and Giftig. Go forth and prosper. _He breathed fort the mist again and this time the Attackers came forth.

They were crimson as the liquid fire they breathed forth and had eyes as gold as His own. They were a three-fourths Ridge-span across with a wingspan the same. They had spines all down their back and large pointy teeth.

Jörmungadr talked to them, _You are to be named Vala and Zeewhe. Use your gifts to attack those that would harm what is to come, not to attack the other Draconis. Go forth and prosper._ Then He breathed the mist one last time and what came forth was a small Egg. Suddenly all the Draconis were filled with a sudden sense of pride and urge to watch over this one Egg. Jörmungadr spoke to them one last time before He put His tail in His mouth and started the planet's Time. _This,_ He said, _is La Bella. She will be your all. Use your gifts to make sure she lives. She is the Clutch-mother of all Draconis as I am the Clutch-father. Honor her and you will be rewarded when I speak to you once more. Go forth and prosper._ And with that, Jörmungadr fell silent, to stay that way until the end of Time.

Ever since then the Draconis have followed Jörmungadr's instructions, breeding and going forth to become prosperous. Even when the Universe made the Gods who made the Two-leggers, the Draconis watched over them with curiosity as if the Two-leggers were their own Clutch until the Two-leggers turned on the Draconis.

And this is the tale of the beginning of the Draconis.


	2. Chapter 2

(A/N: I decided to redo this after I got a review from Fjord Mustang that stated a want for more of a raid scene from a Dragon's POV so…I looked at this chapter and realized that I didn't like it all that much anyways…)

* * *

It was supposed to be a simple food-gathering. We had a good plan set out too. My Murder consisted of several Clouds of Boneheads-to be used as a distraction-, a single Cloud of Prickers, fifteen or so Duos-both of which would be carrying out the actual hard work-, one Torch and me-the only Shadow of Jörmungadr left in existence-as the anti-Two-legger backup forces, the Torch for attacking them directly to create mayhem as a last resort and me to Guard the Murder so that too many of us didn't fall to the Two-leggers.

We flew from the Maisón and over the Great Sea to the small Island we dubbed 'Vomit'-because its overlay looked like a pool of regurgitated fish-and lay in wait for nighttime. When the blinking eye of Jörmungadr rose high in His Underbelly we struck.

"Go!" I hissed and the main group took off, leaving me and the Torch behind to watch for the time when we could strike. As the first wave of Prickers stole the Thorn's-these are the Two-leggers that live on Vomit, called so because they were a pain in our sides-Furries undetected, the Torch turned to me and scowled.

"Who died and made you Alpha?" he growled. "I am the Attacker here, why do you command the Murder?"

"My race was Breathed first little liquid-flame, so I can command them as I please." I retorted-really, I have no patience for the Attackers, they're all 'Let's go incinerate the Two-leggers' all the time and are never thinking about how maybe we might want to just take their Furries. He just snorted a small stream of liquid fire and glared down at the small Nest we were food-gathering from. So far so good, we had managed to cart off ten Furries and we had at least five more in our grasps. Then, someone did something stupid.

You see, the Thorns have these tall not-trees that they sit in and look for us from. We've gotten pretty good at avoiding their poor eyesight by skirting around the rear of the Nest and food-gathering from there to the Great Sea. Regardless of how good we had become, there are always the empty-headed ones in a Murder - ours happened to have several Clouds of them.

Boneheads. They're called that for a reason.

Anyways, one of the Boneheads saw what he thought was a Furry in a tree and buzzed over towards it with gusto only to be struck down in mid-air by a not-web and shooting some of his fire towards one of the not-caves, lighting it on fire.

Turns out. It was in fact a very furry Thorn in a not-tree.

This sequence of events set the Nest into a panic, Thorns coming from every not-cave from every direction yelling all sorts of things in their language. Things like:

"_Dragons!"_ (Which I think is the Two-legger word for Draconis)

"_Get your Weapons!"_ (Now I'm not sure what that means, what Weapons even are is a mystery to me)

"_Aaargh!"_ (This one, I think, is a Two-legger imitation of a roar. It's pretty pathetic, but I suppose Two-leggers weren't meant to roar…)

I gave the Torch a look and he flew off towards the Nest shrieking, "NOW IT'S MY TURN TO LEAD! Boneheads, distract the Thorns! Prickers, you and the Duos work on getting the Furries out of here! All that don't have food, ATTACK!"

I sighed. Attackers…at least this one had the common sense to work on getting Furries but since most of the Draconis down there were part-Attacker anyways it meant that not too many of them would work on getting Furries anyways.

I watched from afar as the Boneheads rushed the Thorn not-caves and lit a few on fire, engaging some of the Thorns in combat. The Thorns were attempting to bash the Boneheads' heads in - HAH! That was a near-impossible task. Boneheads have incredibly thick armor and they have a hard skull to boot. The Thorns seemed too preoccupied with their 'killing the Boneheads' task to realize that several Prickers were carrying off some Furries. Then one stupid Duo had to set fire to the Furry he was holding and almost like **that** the Thorns are on us like hatchlings to fish.

This is when they raise the Captured Fire to see us better and I realize that's my cue to take off and destroy some of the not-trees and Captured Fires because, not too soon after they raise the Captured Fires, the battles usually take a turn for the worse.

I fly high in His Underbelly and dive down, shrieking the war-cry of my race as I build up fire deep in the back of my mouth. I let it loose at the base of a not-tree, toppling the thing and crushing some of the Thorns beneath it. The, just as I wheel around and dive towards another not-tree, I hear a soft whizzing sound and I get hit by a not-web. The not-web wraps itself around my hindquarters and wings, pinning them to my torso and I plummet towards Midgard.

'I'm going to die!' I thought as the surface of Midgard quickly got closer and closer to me, the trees and rocks becoming even more clear as they came nearer to me by the second. 'I'm going to die and my race will die with me. A Draconis with no ability to fly is walking dead! Oh Father don't let me die!'

My body finally felt the ground and I skidded across it, leaving a huge gap in the face of Midgard and several broken trees in my wake. I was alive but I was hurt badly. As I began to fall into dark unconsciousness, I thought one last thought. 'La Bella…why?'

* * *

(A/N: There. Much better. I finished this at two in the morning so please excuse any unnecessary capitalization mistakes (and by unnecessary I mean the words that I didn't capitalize on purpose). This chapter is dedicated to Chocobo Scribe (I read some fanfictions like you suggested and I got the idea for these revisions and the next chapter in its entirety (mainly from your very own 'How to Train Your Dragon: Toothless' Tale')) and Fjord Mustang (as mentioned above). Hope you like this one better than the previous version. I do. Now R&R lest a Bonehead mistakes you for a Furry!)


	3. Chapter 3

(A/N: Worked on the revisions for the previous chapter. Still can't sleep so I'm gonna work on the this chapter right now. Thanks to Chocobo Scribe for the inspiration via 'Toothless' Tale')

* * *

_I was sitting in my nest with my Clutch-mother and Clutch-sisters and Clutch-brothers. My Clutch-mother looks at us with certainty in her eyes._

"_Hatchlings-if you only remember one thing in this entire world-remember that Two-leggers, if they catch you, will always - _always_ go for the kill."

* * *

_

I awoke to pain, lots of pain. And I was still downed and I was still wrapped in the not-web. 'Great…' I thought, 'As if my day could get no worse…'

And it did.

"_Oh the gods hate me! Some people lose their dagger or their mug but noooo - I manage to lose an entire _Dragon_!"_ It was a Thorn! And it was headed my way!

I closed my eyes and played dead as I heard the Thorn smack a branch that smacked it back in the face. Then I heard it get closer.

"_I-I did it! Oh - th-this fixes everything!"_ I smelled metal, the Thorn had pulled out its not-fang and as baring it in my direction, _"I have brought down this mighty creature!" _It planted a foot on my flank and pressed down.

'Get off!' I couldn't hold it any longer. I shifted and I heard the Thorn cry out as it pulled its foot back and stumbled back a few steps. I stared at it.

It was a male, and a scrawny one at that. He looked to be just a yearling and he had reddish-brown fur on his head and green eyes.

He pointed his not-fang at my belly and shakily stepped forward. _"I'm going to kill you Dragon."_ He said in a low voice, _"I'm going to cut your heart out and take it back to my father…"_ he glared at me-not too convincing though-and took a deep breath_. "I. Am. A. Viking."_

'Viking'…is that the Two-legger word for Thorn? This 'Viking' didn't seem very 'Viking'-like, more like a walking fishbone than a 'Viking'. Maybe he was sick or insane…but whatever he was, he was going to kill me to be like the other 'Vikings'.

He took another deep breath and raised his not-fang high in the air. I stared at him, he had closed his eyes! He opened one of them to stare at me and his entire body trembled, reeking of fear.

"_I'm a Viking!"_ He roared at me in his pathetic Two-legger way.

I realized I was going to die here and closed my eyes, laying my head on the ground in defeat. 'Kill me then…don't play with me. Just…put me out of my misery.'

I heard his not-fur rustle as he raised his arms and then…nothing. No blow to my heart came, no not-fang piercing my scales. Nothing.

"_I did this…"_

I heard a soft _Whiiir - whiiir - whiiir - SNAP!_ and felt some of the pressure from the not-web disappear. My eyes shot open and I stared at the 'Viking' who was sawing away at the strands of not-web that held me trapped here. He must be insane because no 'Viking' would ever set a Draconis free!

He worked his way down to the last one and as soon as I heard the last one snap, I was on my feet and pinning him to the face of a rock.

"Foolish Two-legger!" I hissed at him as he sat there, terrified as I came close to his face. Then I roared in his face, "THIS IS HOW YOU ROAR!"

And I bounded away, leaping into the air in an attempt to fly, zig-zagging in the forest. Somehow I couldn't grab the air properly with my tail! As I tried to fly away, I fell into a big cliff area, a large bowl made of rock and ground that had sunk down and created a lake in the middle.

"Great!" I howled in frustration, "Now I'm stuck here too!" As I tried-key word tried-to escape, I had effectively tired myself out. I blew some fire on the ground, creating a bed of embers and I lay down on it and began to drift off.

_Two-leggers, if they catch you, will always - _always_ go for the kill._

I remembered what my Clutch-mother had told me so many years .

'So why didn't you?' I thought as I drifted to dreamland. 'Why didn't you?...'

* * *

(A/N: There. I hope I got the dialogue right…gonna watch HtTYD for thei sixth time this week today! R&R and enjoy!)


	4. Chapter 4

(A/N: this is a little late since I had to do a bit of research on the Norse creation myth which will be featured in this story. It will be modified since it is a dragon telling it so it may not be all that accurate. My apologies if I butcher any of this. :) )

It was dark and cold and I was very tired and upset at my many attempts to soar again in His underbelly which had failed. My balance was off kilter and it seems as though the not-web had snapped off one of my tailfins.

_This means I can't fly... _I stared depressed at the bed of embers I had created the night before, their cold blackness mirroring the darkness I felt deep in my soul. Never again would I feel the breeze ruffle my wings as they were spread open to grasp and clutch at the air which gave all life. I would be stuck here, on Midgard's surface, forever. A downed Draconis; a dead Draconis.

To try and pull myself out of this slump, and to pass time until Jörmungadr's Bright Eye fell and His Soft Eye looked down upon me once again, I decided to retell some of the stories my Clutch-mother told to me and my Clutch-brothers and Clutch-sisters when we were hatchlings. I chose: the creation of the Two-Leggers and their Great Ones. And their betrayal.

Way back before La Bella hatched and after He swallowed his tail and was silenced, the Universe became lonely again. Granted, they had Him and they had the Draconis but something was missing. There was a feeling of emptiness that could not be sated. So the Universe created three beings with two legs, pale fur on their head, and no scales. They were three Clutch-brothers named Vili, Vé, and Odin. They soon saw that there was none like Them, only the scaly Draconis that walked on four legs and breathed flames.

The three Clutch-brothers took it upon themselves to create something that greatly resembled Their image. So They took a fallen Greybark tree and a fallen Dapplebark tree and made the first Two-leggers. Odin breathed life into them, Villi granted them the intelligence of the Two-legged ones, and Vé gave them their limited sight and hearing. Then the three Clutch-brothers placed them on Midgard's surface and let them breed and interact with the Draconis.

The Draconis thought them to be a novelty, a simple creature with no purpose and only three Great Ones to follow instead of the Clutch-Father. But the Draconis looked after these simple creatures as they bred and grew, teaching them language and art, how to hunt and how to fish, music and love. But then, one day when the Two-legger's Graeat Ones had multiplied as they did and now inhabited the realm above Jormungadr called Asgard, the Two-leggers befell a terrible fate. A disease struck that ravaged their people. They turned to the Draconis for help, asking their winged brothers to share with them the one thing they had withheld from them while they had been growing: La Bella's Egg. They believed that the Egg could cure them of their disease but the Draconis knew better. The Egg could not do such a thing, such was the fancy of a young race. However, deep within the ranks of the Two-leggers were the skalds, the storytellers, and they wove a tale of magic and selfishness.

Their tale depicted the Draconis as witholding an Egg that contained the essence of lufe which is what made us live for so long. If they obtained the Egg and cracked it open, they themselves would be granted the gift of long life without disease.

So they stole La Bella's Egg and cracked it open. Inside was nothing but egg fluids. Disappointed, the Two-leggers turned back to the Draconis and begged forgiveness but the damage was done. The Draconis drove the Two-leggers from their land and since then have never spoken to them since the art of speaking Draco has long since been lost to the Two-leggers.

Heartbroken, the Draconis gathered around the egg fluid that had spilled from La Bella's Egg and wept. Their tears made contact with the fluid and a small Draconis formed from the mixture.

_I am La Bella._ She said. _And I am Your Clutch-Mother, am I not?_

_Yes La Bella,_ the Draconis replied,_ Yes Clutch-Mother._

_Guard me, feed me, protect me, I will grow and the Draconis will be a great nation._

And the Draconis did.


	5. Chapter 5

(A/N: Sorry this took so long. I have forgotten what I was planning to do and so I went to look at the copy of the film I had and turns out I lost it. Sadface. And to top it off, they don't have that film on iTunes. Double sadface. So here it is, a good bit later and probably not as good as it should be.)

* * *

I awoke to birds singing and His eye shining down on my face. I had fallen asleep on a hot bed of coals and now they were just embers and ashes. 'Of course...,' I thought, 'awake, cold, hungry, and...,' I tested my wings and sighed, 'trapped. Downed of all things.' I looked around my prison and observed, as I was taught to do by my Clutch-parents. The basin, which I had dubbed 'Fire-Mouth' because it looked like the mouth of a Fire-Hole, was around seventy Ridge-spans wide and the walls of the Fire-Mouth was around fifty Ridge-spans high. It had a small lake (or a large puddle) in the centre that had some freshwater fish in it (said fish constantly avoided my attempts to catch them...blasted water-breathers), a few sparse trees, and lots and lots of rocks. In other words: I could survive here if I could fish, and I was probably never going to get out.

"No!" I shouted, "I will NOT give in! No matter what! I will escape and I will fly again because I need to find others of my kind! I will make it!" I began to flap my wings and leap into the air,. Scrabbling for a clawhold, I began to shout, "Nonononononononono!" I slid down the wall and sat there, looking rather undignified. "Great..." I spat fire on the ground and turned towards the lake in the centre. "Fish...," I grumbled, "How dare you elude me..." Then, after missing the fish and drinking some water, I caught scent of something and heard a soft clattering noise over by the eastern wall. I looked up sharply as I identified the smell, Two-legger. More specifically, the Viking hatchling from before, the one that wounded me. I knew it was him because he smelled of Captured Fire - fed on dead things, not-fangs, and food. My stomach growled and I stared at where I had pinpointed the sound and smell. 'You know...if I don't have fish in the next ten seconds, I may just as well eat YOU if you come down here to retrieve...whatever it is you dropped.' I padded over to the thing the Viking hatchling had dropped and sniffed it. It was a piece of a tree, burned with Captured Fire and dead by several weeks. "Barbarians..." I hissed; fire was to be respected and only fed with the finest of things: gasses, live meat, and the like. Not DEAD things or, even worse, trees. Trees were the lives of the dead Draconis and fire was not meant to eat the flesh of Draconis, dead or otherwise. Of course, lately She had been eating all the dead Draconis so not too many trees existed on Maisón anymore.

'No! Don't think about Her! Not here! She will sense you and send some of the Skeletons or Razorwings to grab you and cut you up and deliver you to Her as a meal. And then where will your species be? Extinct. That's where.' I sat up and began to walk towards where I heard footsteps echoing from. 'You know, I don't think I will eat him. He probably tastes nasty anyways. Instead, I'll break one of HIS important limbs. See how well he walks without the use of his legs. Huh. How well can you walk without the use of your legs Viking?'

That was another thing about the Thorns that I didn't understand. They had all these weird words like _dragon _and _nightfurygetdown!_ and _house_ and even _sheep_ and _weapons_; but they shared some of our words like fish, fire, tree, and—yes—viking. To us (because I'm not sure what Viking means to the Thorns) viking means to go out and steal, which I find appropriate that the Thorns call themselves such. This Thorn, the small fishbone of a yearling that shot me down with a not-web is most definitely a Viking. He stole from me the power of flight and therefore is the most awful thing anyone could be. A true Viking.

When I looked up from staring at the burnt tree-bit and thinking about Vikings, the yearling was gone. 'Ah well...' I sighed, may as well spend the rest of the day sleeping anyways.

* * *

_My Clutch-mother smiled down at me, "Don't worry...," she said, "Everything will be all right." Outside of our Clutch-nest I could hear screams and shouts and the sounds of many Draconis creating fire. My Clutch-father came in and took my Clutch-mother out of our Clutch-nest. He was saying something about how 'She' was awake and 'She' was hungry and 'She' was making sure no one could stand in 'Her' way._

_I was worried, all of my Clutch-siblings were bigger than me and could already fly and were out of the Clutch-nest and I—the runt—was all alone. Where were my Clutch-mother and Clutch-father? Then there was a loud fire-making sound and a smell filled the air, a smell that would haunt me for the rest of my life. It was the smell of burning Draconis flesh._

_I screamed and covered my nose to block out the smell, covered my ears to block out the sound of the screaming and the fire-making, covered my eyes to block out the sight of blood beginning to pool in my Clutch-nest but it was all for naught. Then, I heard Her._

_**Why are you crying little Shadow? Why are you crying Guard?**_

_She was in my head. And yet...She was comforting and kind. I loved Her and was no longer afraid._

"_My family. They are dead...my friends, they too are dead, are they not? Why? Why did they die?"_

_**They did not die. They simply joined Me and they will live forever, so long as I live. You will make sure I will live, won't you?**_

_I stared around, looking for the voice and yet I could not find it. "Where are you? I do not see you," I cried._

_**I am everywhere little Shadow, my Guard. I am your Clutch-Mother.**_

"_You-you are not my Clutch-mother! My Clutch-mother died!" I roared a sad roar, pathetic and small, "Why did my Clutch-mother die?"_

_**Your Clutch-mother died because there are bad Draconis in the world and they do not wish for Me to live, so they attacked Me and your Clutch-parents and Clutch-siblings died protecting Me.**__**Then I devoured them and they became a part of Me. You do want them to live, don't you?**_

_I nodded, unsure of whether or not She could see me. Then I roared again, a determined roar this time, "I will protect You! I will keep You alive! I am Your Guard!"_

_**Good, little one..., **__She said, __**Now come out and meet the survivors of the revolt. Together you and them will build a new nation, one worthy of Jörmungadr...**_

* * *

I awoke to the sound of a loud clap of thunder and a torrent of rain. 'Well great...just what I need. A cold on top of lack of a left tailfin. Can this day get any worse?' A larger clap of thunder and a lightning strike near me told me the answer was yes. I got up and began to walk around, looking for some cover from the rain. When I finally found a small overhang that provided some slight cover from the rain, I blew myself a bed of embers and curled up, trying to block out the memory of the night my Clutch-family died. 'She lied to me then, she lies to me now, and she has been lying to the entire Nest ever since she woke up. And I'm the only one who realizes that She is a monster. While I lay here incapacitated, She is eating more and more, growing stronger while the Nest grows weaker and weaker. She is waiting for the day when She can lift Herself from the center of Maisón and devour the entirety of the Nest without any resistance. Then She will ravage the land and devour everything in sight until She grows full and returns to the ocean to rest for another thousand years.' I closed my eyes and tried to rest but in the darkness of my closed eyelids I saw dreadful premonitions of the destruction that She would leave in her wake. When I finally drifted off to sleep it was plagued by the nightmares of monstrosities long past, those both done by Her and for Her by me.

'If I survive this,' I thought as I relived the horror of the death of my Clutch-family once again, 'May Jörmungadr forgive me my sins...'


	6. NOTE

I am reposting and revamping this fanfiction. Now it is under the name "The Truth About Shadows". If you were following this story, I would suggest you follow that one, as it is the same story, only in my current style. Hopefully it should be better.

Thanks for sticking with me for so long.  
~~~_SandriaC_


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